News & Commentary

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Tomorrow I travel to the University of Maine at Farmington with ACLU of MAINE staff and Board members for our annual Bill of Rights Education Conference for area high school students.  This is the first in a series of three conferences over the next three weeks -- Farmington, Belfast and Portland -- serving almost six hundred students.  Conference workshops cover First Amendment, Fourth Amendment, and Fourteenth Amendment rights.  Among the topics of discussion:  How do we reconcile free speech and anti-discrimination protections?  Is there a Constitutional right to privacy?  How is technology changing our understanding of freedom of speech and freedom from unreasonable search and seizure?  An ACLU of MAINE member said to me last week, "We used to call this civics."  Some civics teachers are already doing great work teaching students about our system of government and the great documents that guide us.  But given the lack of basic understanding on the part of politicians running for office about what the Constitution does and doesn't say, there's definitely room for more Bill of Rights education.  The ACLU of MAINE brings real world legal cases to the classroom.  Our goal is to make the Constitution and the Bill of  Rights a living document for all Mainers.  If you would like your child to benefit from this education program, contact your school about inviting the ACLU of MAINE.  We will travel anywhere in the state to distribute pocket Constitutions and to educate our young people about democracy.

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David Fathi, Director of the ACLU's National Prison Project, just landed in Portland.  We're driving north today for the ACLU of MAINE Annual Meeting & Celebration at the University of Maine at Orono Wells Conference Center.  David is a nationally recognized expert on prison reform, and he joins us to honor three recipients of the Roger Baldwin Award for civil liberties activisim -- activist Emily Posner, Reverend Stan Moody, and Dr. Janis Petzel.  This year's celebration is particularly exciting as the ACLU celebrates our 90th anniversary.  Edward and Bethany have already driven north to install the ACLU's 90th Anniversary Traveling Exhibit.  The exhibit sections are seven feet by seven feet and document the extraordinary civil liberties achievements of the ACLU over nine decades.  Tonight's celebration starts at 7 pm.  It's free and open to the public.  Stop by to see the ACLU 90 Years Exhibit, hear David Fathi speak about prison reform, and honor three extraordinary activists.   See you there!